Page 169 - Labelle Gramercy, Detective

Slow Burn

U-shaped alley, sort of like a motel. Labelle cruised the parking area
slowly while I typed license plate numbers into the onboard
computer terminal. I was picking up her habit; it looks good on your
record to have nailed a stolen car in a situation others would have
passed by as innocuous.
“Guess which is his,” she challenged.
“How the hell am I going to do that? I didn’t look at the DMV
records; you did. That’s not fair.”
“Go ahead, anyway. Be creative.”
Exasperated, I studied the half-dozen or so mostly battered old
cars which were present in their slots. Then it hit me. “Another old
Honda Civic! You mean to tell me—?”
“Very good, Duncan. That’s right: the quints all own the same
make and model of car. Same year. Same color, too, I’d guess.”
“Cripes. Did they get a fleet discount?”
“No, each of them bought his after he arrived here; they all have
very different registration dates. This may be one of those
manifestations of almost supernatural similarity in life experience of
multiple-birth siblings.”
“Oh, you mean like identical twins separated at birth who both
become stamp collectors and marry women named Irene on Easter
Sunday?”
Labelle parked next to the Honda. “Yes, but the key is separation.
Otherwise you can’t distinguish the self-fulfilling prophecies from
real statistical anomalies. At any rate, it will be interesting to see if the
Carbone quintuplets display any other odd similarities in their lives.”
“They were all involved in different kinds of criminal activity after
they split up, weren’t they?”
“Yes. The only common thread I can pick out is an attempt to take
an existing scam and give it a new twist. That might represent a
certain kind of identical deep brain structure. But intelligence is
subject to environmental influence, so it’s not an easy call. Until their
parents died, I would guess the boys functioned more or less as
interchangeable parts. They would almost have to be treated in the
same way, to avoid favoritism.”
“Nature versus nurture,” I said brightly.

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